Practically dead
by APurpleAvacado
Summary: This was a hard idea to pull together, Daughter of a Racer, engaged to another! A coma resulted in her life as she knows it ending! KrossPappianna!
1. A shocking reaction

Authors note: This is a story based on the CROGS! Crog lovers watch out. (I had to go through it and edit it, I noticed some irksome mistakes).

Disclaimer: I least likely colour you'd see a crog in…uhhh? Pink?

Practically dead.

Chapter one: A shocking reaction.

_I was only a young adult at the time, I lost my father…and I nearly lost the love of my life. He'll be fine, he'll get better. He promised he would never leave me. He can't leave me! Can he? That stupid race! It's taken everything from me! I hate it! I hate it! I hate the Avatar!_

Pappianna had been left in her chambers, in her home; she was alone now, completely alone. The high walls towered over her scrawny being, she had been in a deep depression for a week, her health had been deteriorating, and fast. She refused to eat, move or even talk to another crog, she had given a vow of silence. She refused to speak until he woke, her love, the love of her life. To begin the shock of losing her father had shaken her greatly, but to have the added, but unwanted bonus, he was hurt, badly.

A creak at the door alerted her as she lay on the bed; someone had come to check on her, to take on the near pointless task of trying to feed her. She was weak, near too weak, disgracefully weak.

A male had entered the room with a bowl of Crogasian cuisine "Eat something Pepper, how will you have the strength to see Kross in this state?" the male saw Pappianna roll her eyes. She hated to admit he was right, how could she? However, before she could answer herself that question, the male had already picked her up and placed her carelessly on his right shoulder, she landed with a thump and a single shot of pain was sent through her stomach. _OW! Geez! If I was going to talk, you wouldn't hear the end of this!_

"Do not try my patients, Pappianna" The male glared as he walked into the next room to be faced by another male, who, clearly wasn't happy with Pappianna or the younger male.

"Put her down Ajax, she's not happy, neither am I" the Crog sounded menacing. Glaring at Ajax, he dropped Pappianna where he stood. There was another loud thump as Pappianna hit the floor. She shot a glare at Ajax and kicked as hard as her weak form could in the ankles. Ajax gave a grunt of pain as he turned to glare at Pappianna.

"I said put her down, not drop her where you stand" both Ajax and Pappianna looked at the Crog; he looked even more threatening then before.

Ajax took a few steps forward as he spoke "I don't see any significant difference, Talon" he glared at Talon for a moment "Why don't you try feeding Pepper for once?"

For a moment Pappianna watched as they argued over her, she sighed to herself before trying to pick herself up, she was just pushing herself up when her left arm gave way. She fell, landing on her elbow she closed her eyes hastily, in an attempt to dismiss the pain that rang through her arm.

Talon turned to Pappianna and offered her a hand, she took it with some hesitation, she _hated_ depending on people, but sometimes, she had to overlook that fact.

Talon pulled Pappianna to her feet as he spoke "are you alright?" Pappianna's ears perked up a bit (they looked like Toros's) as she smiled thankfully. With out a word, she headed for the door. She walked as proud as she could, as she was weak and she didn't want people to know she was badly hurt. Talon motioned for Ajax to follow. A weak Crog was an easy target. Neither Ajax nor Talon wanted her hurt.

Ajax reached for his sword as he walked out the door to accompany Pappianna. They knew where she was going; she always went there when she'd been carried from her room often in more polite ways then this particular time.

* * *

Pappianna entered the all too familiar building, it was white, very large, and it was the best on the entire planet. The Hospital that held Kross, General Kross was an important member of the Crog forces and was very important to Pappianna.

He was the love of her life, and no one could deny her the privilege of seeing him. It was yet another pointless exercise. The first time they had refused her, three of their staff found themselves badly injured and a further two in intensive care. Ever since then, they had let her do as she pleased.

She had finally come to Kross's room.

_Still no change, for weeks he's been this way, still, like the dead… _a lump was caught in throat as she ran toward Kross. Her lower body collapsed as her arms met with his bedside, she couldn't hold her tears in much longer, she began to cry, in great measure, she choked for breathe as she cried, Ajax sighed, he knew she would cry, she always did. There was no denying, she loved him, dearly. There was also no denying, she would gladly give her life, to save his.

Ajax walked behind Pappianna and placed a hand of her shoulder "let him know you are here, crying will not do a thing, give him strength" Ajax smiled caringly.

With that, Pappianna placed a hand on Kross's cheek and kissed his forehead lightly "I'm here, your safe" she finally broke her vow of silence, if only for a while, just as she removed her hand, something had knocked her flat onto Kross's stomach, she scrambled off "He moved!" Pappianna couldn't believe her own words…


	2. Hopeful

Authors note: Yes, Kross and Pappianna are in love. (Pappianna's nickname is Pepper, is you haven't figured that our yet). I feel like being nice and giving you nice folks an early update. (Usually I update on Saturdays).

Disclaimer: poking jelly bunnies really isn't constructive. They'll just get stuck to you.

Practically dead

Chapter two: Hopeful.

"Kross, my love! Can you hear me?" Pappianna's voice was filled with hope.

"Pappianna…" Ajax had never seen her like this, not since the incident on Oban, he thought for a moment… "I will fetch a-"

"Is everything alright?" a nurse had appeared in the doorway.

"Wow, great timing" Ajax said as he was both joking around and shocked at her arrival.

"He moved! Kross moved!" Pappianna glanced at the nurse then turned back to Kross.

Pappianna was still trying to wake Kross up then the nurse spoke "It's just a muscle reaction, it's a good sign, but he won't be waking up…I'm sorry." Pappianna was just opening her mouth to speak before the nurse stepped in again "he is showing signs of recovery, just be patient, visiting hours are over, please return home"

Ajax put a hand on Pappianna's shoulder, and gave a nod, Pappianna smiled as they both left the hospital.

Talon sat in the large, burgundy coloured living room polishing his pride and joy, his sword. The first one he'd ever received.

When he heard the door open, and hear two pairs of footsteps enter the living room, he turned to see Ajax and Pappianna, Ajax seemed to be his usual miserable self, but to his surprise Pappianna was beaming, he looked at Ajax who sighed.

"She saw him move today, but the nurse said it was only a muscular reaction, he's not awake yet, she spoke to him too, but, she told me to tell you, she's saving her speech for him alone." Ajax and Talon looked at Pappianna who smiled and walked toward the kitchen.

"She's hopeful" Talon spoke happily "I just hope she doesn't get hurt…if…if the worse should happen" Talon's ear's drooped as he spoke.

Ajax turned to the kitchen, his eyes widened. Do his eyes deceive him? He whacked Talon on the arm making him glare at Ajax, but of the corner of his eye he saw…Pappianna…with a…apple?

"No way…" Talons eye's widened further when he saw her take a bit out the red apple she'd been holding.

"You're eating…" Ajax was flabbergasted, Pappianna's ears went shooting up and she gave a wide smile and giggled slightly, she flexed her right arm. Talon knew instantly what she meant.

"You are getting your strength back." Talon returned the wide smile, Ajax just smiled, he was happy Pappianna was seeing sense, but he was afraid she would fall too hard if Kross let her down for the last, and final time.

"Pepper, take your apple to bed, it's been a long day" Ajax stepped forward pushing her toward the door lightly. Pappianna got the picture and waved to the crog men as a good night. She ran to her room.

There was a long pause as silence cast itself over the room.

Ajax's ears drooped before he broke it "She will only get hurt…I don't want to see my friend hurt" Ajax turned to Talon to lay a hand on his friends shoulder.

Talon gave a comforting smile "My friend, she is strong, you need not worry" he took his hand away and walking toward the door spoke again "you should be the one preparing for such a day…good night" Talon walked through the door and out of sight.

* * *

Pappianna sat in her room, and lay across her bed with an assortment of letters, sketches and small trinkets spread across her bed. Chewing her apple her eye's drifted across the objects, until something caught her eye. It was a letter Kross had written in return to one of her own. She picked it up and began to read through it.

_My dear Pappianna,_

_I hope you and your father are well._

_Yes, I do miss you; the army has been keeping me busy for a long while hence why I have not been able to return this letter to you sooner. I do realize I rarely return your letters. As you know I have never been good with words, even now I am struggling. I am more an action taker more then anything else, you know this._

_I have been given the privilege of being your fathers back up in the Great Race of Oban. I am sure I will not be needed. Your father is our best racer as well as our best warrior, Carnal Toros will do well. I am sure he will miss you, as will I, if I ever leave the planet. Even so, I miss you at this very moment._

_Pappianna, my love, even though you were promised to me, I can not wait until the day comes when we are wed. I love you, even if I have trouble showing it. You will make your father proud, even more so then he is now. _

_Your friends Captain Talon and Private Ajax are doing well in the army; they have beaten all who have challenged them in their training. I think they have a very promising future ahead of them in the army, but it is not the place for the likes of you, your father, I must say was right to refuse you admittance. You may be strong, both mentally and physically but the army demands more energy of you then you possess, you lack the stamina. I am aware you are on your last few months at school, I wish for you to concentrate on your studies, perhaps, you should seek private tutoring from your combat teacher, if it is indeed what you really want, to join the army._

_Farewell, Pappianna, for now my love._

_I will always love you._

_General Kross._

Pappianna whipped the tears from her face as she put down the letter "you always treated me like a child…" she sat up on her bed as she collected up the letters and the pieces of paper until she came across a sketch she drew of Kross during one of his war meetings, he looked stern, as he usually did, she giggled slightly as she noticed she'd drawn a heart around his portrait, like a school girl would when she had a crush on some guy who had no idea she existed. She then continued to gather the paper. A small brown box lay near the end of her bed, she picked it up and went to put the paper in the box, when he noticed something had been left inside, she reached for it, picking it up she realized that the ring, was in fact the engagement ring Kross had given her after their first real date. The ring was silver and carried a small emerald green diasan (equivalent to a diamond) embedded into it. The ring was simple, but it had meant a lot to her as she just realized Kross had been listening the day she told him her favourite colour. She placed it carefully on her ring finger and let yet another tear slid down her face. She paused for a moment, sighing she returned the paper back inside the small brown box and gathered the small amount of trinkets left on her bed, and returned them to the box she'd retrieved them from.

After a while Pappianna forced a smile upon her face after she sat in silence thinking of her fiancé, Kross. She pulled back the covered on her bed, and snuggled under the covers. Her Queen sized bed suddenly felt very empty, like something was missing. (Not Kross, they've never shared a bed) she grabbed her extra pillow and hugged it tightly, for extra comfort.

(No idea how to spell Carnal and my computer won't tell me)


	3. A guest or two

Authors note: I'm sorry I'm having a bit of a problem with chapter two, it's playing up…

Disclaimer: Shinny Jordan! Shinny!

Practically dead

Chapter three: A guest or two.

Ajax was preparing breakfast, for you can guess who. When he heard a faint knock by the kitchen door. It was Pappianna. She'd woken up strangely early; she lent against the wall smiling widely at Ajax and noticed he'd been slaving away at salad (with chunks of the equivalent to Crogasian fish in it), she thought it odd in the morning, to eat a salad but she knew it was in her best interests.

"Morning Pepper, Here, eat this, I'm not even going to ask why you're up this early" Ajax passed her the salad as he walked out to the living room. He'd always been set to 'wake up early' mode as in the army, you really did need to wake up early.

_Well, thank you…_ her thoughts sounded slightly annoyed at his rudeness, but then again she did hear from him yesterday how much he hated having to serve someone, so, she couldn't really argue…

She went into the living room, now armed with a fork, to poke at her salad with. She sat down on the small dining table by the window and looked out upon the landscape it faced her with _it's beautiful…but it's no Kross…_without a word, she began to eat her salad. A few moments passed with no problems until her fork pierced a piece of Goonian (it's pretty much cabbage) it was similar to the colour of emerald green with a deep purple stalk. She looked at the ring that she'd placed on her ring finger only the night before. To Ajax's surprise, he'd heard a loud clanging as Pappianna dropped her fork; she'd bursted into tears with her ring to her lips.

"Pepper…?" Ajax walked toward her and gently lifted her from her seat and took her into his arms in a comforting hug, in an attempt to shield her from the pains of the world. Pappianna cried into his chest, unable to breathe.

Talon had walked in on the scene, he'd began watching when Ajax had pulled Pappianna into a hug, he had been glad to pull away from it when he'd heard a knock at the door. _Oh great…friends. _Talon had opened the door to be greeted by a tall female crog by the name of Tay and another, around the same height as Pappianna by the name of Revili

Tay wore a white dress, it was simple, it had puffy sleeves and flowed from the empire line down. Her hair was white with highlights of black here and there, her hair was waist length and very wavy. Her shoes were simple white slippers; also her ears were shoulder length and flopped down by her neck.

Revili wore a yellow tank top that had a strange corset effect to it, (string ties, to tighten it) the shirt had been accompanied by a pair of pale brown combat trousers, with a pare of white trainers with it. Her hair was short and red; it had been tied up in a loose bun, with her ears dangling around her knees.

"Umm…let us in?" Revili spoke very rudely; she'd never really liked Talon.

"Manners Revili! ...I'm sorry, she often forgets her place; we came to see Pepper" it was of course a well-known fact among the three girls that Tay, did in fact have a very big a crush on Talon. So, she spoke apologetically.

"Whatever…she's inside…" Talon looked town at Revili with a scowl but then turned to Tay with a smile as he turned to let them in.

Pappianna had been released from Ajax's hug and was now rubbing the tears from her eyes, even though she was still sobbing, she could handle it now. Suddenly, she'd been taken from behind in a tight hug. She flung the being across the room and it hit the wall with a thud. _Oh…crap._ Pappianna's eyes were wide as she's realized she'd just thrown Revili across the room, she heard Talon chuckling to himself.

"Wow, Pepper…" Tay had made Pappianna turn around in curiosity "she's going to kill you when she wakes up…" she noticed Pappianna rolling her eyes before she chose to continue "How are you?"

Pappianna nodded, eying the small sheets of paper Tay had been holding _they couldn't resist bringing me some homework…_

By now Talon and Ajax had left the room, neither wishing to endure Pappianna's annoying choice of friends.

Tay of course had noticed, as she'd been watching Talon from the corner of her eye. "Um…I bought you this, its combat theory, it must be done, and we will get graded on it." Tay hated combat lessons, so naturally, she sounded quite bitter about the whole thing, even though she'd fight when she needed to; it just didn't fit in her personality. Most got frustrated at her for she was the only one who refused to believe she was one of the top fighters in the class, under Pappianna of course.

However at the statement 'combat theory' Pappianna's face seemed to light up. She loved combat lessons! But…theory, not so much. But she was good at it. She snatched the paper from Tay's grasp and winked, Tay knew she'd find this easy.

An undecipherable mumble came from the wall behind the chatting friends, at which they turned to see Revili rubbing the back of her head "Owie…that hurt Pepper!" she shouted rather annoyed at her mute friend who could only look at the floor with her hand on the back on her neck, nervously.

* * *

In the hall Ajax and Talon had pretty much fled from the girls, lest they be dragged into some sort of embarrassing situation, like a few weeks ago Talon, Ajax, Revili, Tay and Pappianna had been playing 'spin the bottle' of course, Pappianna had been promised, so she could only kiss her partner on the cheek, neither of the boys were happy playing this game, especially not Talon, for one, he was always being picked by that sorry excuse for a rigged bottle (god knows how you can rig a bottle) but what had made things worse was that Talon had to keep kissing Tay, come to think of it…Tay was the one spinning the bottle.

"Some how…I don't think either of us will want to go in there any time soon" Ajax said chuckling to himself, to mask the fear of being trapped in a room with Revili, no-one but Tay and Pappianna seemed to get along with her.

"Whatever I jus-" Talon had been interrupted by a buzzing, coming from the communication devise, Talon walked up to it and pressed a large black button, to their surprise, they saw the nurse that'd spoken to them the previous day, Talon and Ajax watched wide eyed at the figure on the other side of the line.

"Hello?" Ajax was unsure of what to say, but knew he had to say something.

"I have important news, which concerns General Kross…" the Nurse spoke matter of factly.

"What?" Both Ajax and Talon spoke in unison.

"He has…woken up" The nurse could only give straight answers; she was never very good at anything else.

"Thank you…" Talon cut the transmission "…Ajax get Pappianna to the hospital" Ajax had already turned around by this point, but nodded in acknowledgement of his request.

* * *

"Yes, he likes me but- not interested!" Tay said smugly.

"Because we all know who y-" Revili had been interrupted by the living room door being swung open by a fairly panicked Ajax.

"Pepper! It's Kross!" Ajax had noticed the clear look of alarm written all over her face "He's awoken!" with that Pappianna had literally pushed her way out the room and the house. She was soon followed by Talon and Ajax. Talon signalled for the girls to go home, he didn't want them at the hospital.

(sorry, this one probably not quite as serious as I would have like it, but…gotta' lighten up at some point, right?)


	4. Rude awakenings

Authors note: if your not one for dramatics, turn away now…no, what am I saying, there are no dramatics here. Stick around!

Disclaimer: I don't Oban; if I did I'd have made Aikka allergic to Jordan's cologne.

Practically dead:

Chapter four: rude awakenings.

Pappianna didn't know what else to do but rush to Kross's bedside as he sat up, he shook his head, trying to gain clear vision of his surroundings, and the people surrounding him.

"Kross! My darling! You're awake!" Kross's eyes widened as he had just been grasped in a hug, suddenly his expression changed to one of annoyance, he carefully released himself from this, female crogs grasp…

"Yes…who, are you?" his voice had sounded irritated and confused. Both Ajax's and Talon's eye's widened, they both thought something along the lines of _what the hell?!_

"Y-you don't remember me?" Pappianna's eyes welled up with tears as she began to speak once more "i-it's me, Pappianna" she saw Kross shake in his head, at that she ran out of the room, desperately trying to fight back the tears, in doing so she'd knocked a doctor the floor, Ajax followed her hastily, this building was a large one, and losing Pappianna in it was not the best option right now.

Kross turned to a rather pissed off looking Talon, who was not walking toward him rather menacingly.

* * *

Ajax and been looking for Pappianna _why me? _Ajax had thought to himself as he turned the corner at hearing a rather distressed cry from down the corridor _that HAS to be her…_he trailed down the corridor, treading careful, so Pappianna wouldn't make a break for it, Pappianna hated it when people saw her cry, especially in the measure she'd broken into only a few minutes ago. Finally, he'd found her, she'd been sitting between two chairs; it surprised him since he couldn't even get his hand through.

"Pepper…" as he spoke he took a seat on the chairs across from the one's Pappianna had been hiding between.

Sniffling as she spoke she replied "…what?" after which she let out a loud cry and buried her face in her lap once again.

Ajax sighed and spoke over her sobs "Will you come out from under there; you cannot run and hide from all your problems" he spoke flatly, the aim was to make Pappianna feel small, so she would give in, otherwise, he'd never get her out, she was so stubborn when she wanted to be.

Soon enough his plan began to take effect, first Pappianna wiped her face of tears and slowly made her way up from the ground where she sat and carefully, so she would not hurt herself, slid through the gap with ease. Then she stood in front of Ajax, putting on a brave face.

Ajax put his hand on Pappianna's cheek and spoke sincerely "there, now, shall we head back to Kross's room?" Pappianna gave a solemn nod as they both headed down the corridor, back the direction they came.

* * *

Meanwhile, Talon had taken hold of Kross's hospital robes both crogs were sending one another menacing glares.

"How 'bout an explanation, General Kross?!" Talon was plain furious at what he'd done to Pappianna "What did you mean; who are you?!"

"I meant, Captain Talon, I do not know WHO she is!" Kross retorted angrily.

"So, let's get this straight, you don't remember Pappianna, but you know who I am?" Kross nodded "…and Ajax?"

"Yes, I remember him…" Kross sounded confused; he wasn't sure where this conversation was headed.

"So, you remember myself, Ajax, but you don't remember what should be the single most important being in your life?!" if you were able to see Kross's eyebrows, you would have seen him cock his eyebrow as he nodded slowly.

"Release me" Kross continued raising his voice; he'd had quite enough of being held by the collar of his hospital robes. Talon reluctantly pulled his hands off Kross's gown and let his right hand form a fist while his other arm tensed.

Talon was about to let his fist fly forward into Kross's jaw, when a hand had been placed on it, he turned, it was Pappianna, she looked fairly menacing, Kross had taken notice of the hand on the Captains, it appeared to be Pappianna's left hand, what made him observe it was the fact that he saw a silver ring with a fairly large emerald Diasan (Crog folk Diamond) on her ring finger _where…where have I seen that ring before? Where…who is she…have a met her before?_

"Cool it Talon" Pappianna had turned to Kross "hey, who did this to you? Who put you in hospital?!" Ajax and Talon looked at one another, what is she up to?

Kross closed his eye's to think for a moment "the earth team" he clenched his fists in anger and stared at the floor. He looked up when Pappianna turned to Captain Talon and Private Ajax.

"We're going on a field trip" she was the scariest she'd ever been before, she sent shivers down even Kross's spine, there was something going on in her head, but what, she stormed out of the room "oh, Kross, I hope you gain a full recovery, really…" she looked to him, giving him a caring smile, before her last word, at which she'd gritted her teeth and proceeded out of the room, Ajax and Talon looked to Kross and then at each other and proceeded to follow Pappianna.

Kross looked to the floor as he took a seat on his bed; he seemed to be deep in thought…

* * *

It had been about fifteen minutes and Pappianna, Ajax and Talon found themselves outside the Crogs top military base "Ajax, get your trident…" Pappianna spoke menacingly, still glaring, she seemed adamant to go through with her plans.

"Pepper what-" Ajax was interrupted by Pappianna.

"Just do it Ajax!" it was then that Pappianna found herself pinned against the large grey cement wall, she stared wide eyed in shock at Talon.

"What for Pappianna!?" Talon shock her slightly as he spoke, he was pretty peeved. Ajax put a hand on his arm, at which Talon released her.

"We're going to earth, we're going to get that earth pilot and we're going to kill her, okay?" Pappianna was clearly irritated at Talon and glared at him menacingly "You're holding us up, I'm getting my revenge, and I'm getting Kross's, Ajax" she turned to Ajax.

Talon looked at Ajax _don't let her, don't her, Ajax…_ He saw Ajax nod sadly, and entered the crog trident hold, to sign for an assassination and to sign off his trident, he figured Talon better have his too so he gestured for Talon to follow, and Talon guessed it was to get supplies and his trident, he reluctantly agreed.

A few minutes later…

Two tridents had landed just outside the crogs number one military base, one have four prongs which belonged to Ajax, it was a rank three trident, which one extra seat inside and the other hand three prongs that was a rank two trident, which belonged to Talon, which also contained an extra seat, for emergency situations. (they looked like a mix between Kross's and Toros's) the doors swung open with a swoosh, Talon and Ajax stepped out of them to go and met with Pappianna who had been waiting for them.

"You go the tridents" she stated flatly before continuing in a questioning tone "…and the supplies?" both the male crogs nodded "Great, Ajax, I'm going to sit in your trident, okay?" Ajax and Talon nodded in agreement. Within moments of landing both tridents once again took off out of their planets atmosphere and into the dark, almost unknown vacuum of space.


	5. Glaring and Daring

Authors note: I'm not sure about my space, so bare with me.

Disclaimer: if you find yourself behaving in a somewhat similar way to Pepper, see a psychiatrist.

Practically dead

Chapter five: Glaring and daring.

Pappianna lay back in the passenger seat pretty much bored with the masses and masses of stars, planets and balls of gas that seemed to pass by, they had been travelling faster then she thought, as everything seemed to last a millennium with only the one thought on her mind _I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her, I'm GOING to KILL her!_ She gave a sigh of boredom and annoyance, glancing at Ajax she spoke, it's amazing she'd stayed angry for longer then she thought she would "are. We. There. Yet."

Ajax only sighed; he knew it was pointless trying to answer a statement, let alone an angry Pepper.

There was a faint crackling over the radio soon both Pappianna and Ajax heard the familiar voice of Talon on the other end _Pepper, you'll be pleased to know, we're nearing the target, I suppose you can clear stage one of your plot for revenge. _During the last part there was a clear bitter sarcasm in his tone.

"How far?" Pappianna questioned irritably.

She heard a sigh before Talon spoke again _about another light year or so…are you sure you want to do this, Pepper?_ There was an air of concern in his voice.

"More then ever" Pappianna replied throw gritted teeth. She heard a sigh once again before the connection was cut; the trident was filled once again in an uncomfortable silence.

She glared at the tridents main screen, following the view the trident was faced with. She looked down at her attire; she'd been sitting in it for at least two days, she wore white leather figure hugging trousers with black leather knee length wedge heel boots. She also wore a white swashbuckler's shirt (you know the ones pirates wear with the puffy sleeves) with a black leather vest on, it rested around her rib cage, very flattering for her figure, and the whole outfit made her classic hourglass figure stand out. She took hold of a lock of hair that had been hanging over her shoulders, it was jet black with emerald green highlights going through it, it was very straight and her fringe fell over her right eye, hiding it from view, and on the left, it covered half of her left eye. She ran her fingers through it, usually it was silky smooth, but this time, it was thick with grease. She flung it behind her in disgust; this little problem will have to be fixed, especially before she killed the earth girl. She glared in annoyance for a moment.

"Can we pick up the pace?" by this point she was past annoyed, now, she was irked to the other end of the galaxy. She glared at Ajax and then turned her gaze to the monitors again.

"We can't right now, if we do, we'll be stranded in the middle of nowhere, you don't want that now, do you?" Ajax spoke with an air of smugness in his voice, he just felt like aggravating Pappianna further. He had noticed her fussing over her hair.

She let out a low and deadly growl and she slumped lower into her seat. She ended up listening to Ajax talk to Talon over the communication link. "We should be getting ready for hyper space soon T" Ajax spoke strangely happily, although, it was a well-known fact that he loved going through space at unimaginable speeds, which was lucky for him, since he didn't have to imagine it.

_Don't call me T, you know I hate it, yeah, start up the hyper drive system…now. _Talons voice seemed to fizz up with the faint crackling noise what haunted the speakers, nevertheless, the words he spoke cause she to sit up in her seat. She heard the crackling of the speakers vanish, she turned to Ajax, as he spoke, pressing buttons with practiced precision.

"Fasten your seat belts children, and keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times" he paused for a moment before he pushed the penultimate button in the sequence "My Gods, I've always wanted to say that!" he pushed the final button, and both ships headed further into the vacuum of space. Pappianna was pretty much clutching her seat belt strap for dear life.


	6. So close

Authors note: well, if you have poke about earth defences. Please poke me.

Disclaimer: if you're a crog, and you get lost in space, you have no sense of direction. And you've been thrown out of the crog military because of it, since they can't find you.

Practically dead;

Chapter six: so close.

It had been only a few minute and they were only a mile or so away from the Earths o-zone layer. It had been ordered, by none other then Talon that they cut the hyper drive, lest they run out of fuel. They paces was normal, neither trident had been moving for a long while; it appears one aspect of the plan had been over looked.

"_Look, I told you we need to get to the planet defences undetected, but _someone_ forgot to upgrade the tridents. So has _anyone else _come up with an idea yet?" _Talons all too familiar voice sounded over the slightly fuzzy radio.

"Well, genius, I suppose we'll just have to fly through them" Pappianna was just irritated, her target was close, so close, it mocked her every minute she sat in the still, unmoving trident.

"What? And get blown to star dust in the process?" Ajax glanced at pepper "great plan" his voice was etched with sarcasm, he rolled his eyes and he turned to the monitors.

"_I have to agree with Ajax on this Pepper, we can't just waltz on in there. Think about it, there are three of us, and well, and the entire population of the planet" _there he goes again, _always_ having a valid point. It frustrated Pappianna to no end.

"Any better ideas?" Pappianna asked, quite obviously annoyed.

"Yes actually, take a look at the monitors" Ajax stated, pointing towards the monitors.

"_Earth…yeah, what about it?"_Talon for the first time in a while, spoke in a questioning tone.

"Not earth, its defences. Talon, is that a motion detector?" Ajax's ear's perked up, he had an idea, and it seemed like a good one.

Pappianna glanced at the monitor and then at Ajax while the crackling of the speakers sounded once more. _"Ye-Ajax! Smooth! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" _

"If it's blowing that piece of scrap metal to oblivion then yes." Ajax by now had a huge grin on his face, oh how he loved to blow things up. He had quite a history.

"_Um…well, no." _Ajax by now was frowning, he so badly wanted to hurt something, even if it wasn't a living thing, metal would do _"I was thinking that if we got past them. Which we obviously need to do, then we're earth free"_

"Well done, diygo, your plan?" Pappianna said rolling her eyes.

A grunt came form the speakers before Talons voice sounded _"we need to disarm it, and if we do, there should be enough space for the tridents to slip through virtually unnoticed…this is where Ajax…blows it up…"_

"So, you really were thinking what Ajax was thinking" Pappianna pointed out triumphantly.

"_Yes…" _Talon sighed in defeat.

"_Can _I blow things up now?" Ajax asked impatiently, he seemed to be beaming, and the only time he ever did that was when he was faced with the choice of what to blow up first.

"Let's make quick work of that scrap metal!" Pappianna shouted pointing at the monitors as if he was pointing at something in the distances.

Ajax grinned; if you were a passer by you would have been able to see the fury of the pink, yet deadly lasers from which were being emitted by both tridents. In less then five seconds two beams of a fiery fuchsia laser matter was sent toward the closest motion detector. The force of the attack was so strong there was absolutely no trace of that little piece of machinery left. It was truly nothing but star dust, on the insides of the tridents however, Ajax gave a malicious grin. He finally figured out he was in the mood for blood shed. Fortunately, for the human race, Pappianna was having none of it.

"Good, I'm glad you satisfied your pyromania, now please, fly!" stated most of the sentence plainly until the very last word, it was full of relief and complete and utter rage, the chase it seemed, was on.

With that both ships headed forward into the narrow gap the now none existent motion detector left unprotected. It was wide enough to fit one trident in at a time, with a little extra space to spare. They couldn't linger too long, surely the humans kept tabs of their defences. One by one the tridents slipped through the gap, they lingered for a moment, now unsure of what to do.

"Crash it" Pepper stated.

"What?" Ajax raised an eyebrow

"I said: Crash. It." Pepper repeated.

"Pepper-" Ajax tried to reason

"Do it now or they'll spot us! Anyway, I think we'll _need _to look helpless!" Pepper interjected

"_I'm not crashing my baby" _Talon protested.

"Fine, then we'll leak its fuel, Ajax, crash it, we'll be fine, now try and crash in that region there! Hurry already! They'll spot us; it'll be too slow if we fly there"

Ajax sighed letting the steering do most of its own thing, whist Talon pretended to be veering out of control; it was an act, so it didn't look suspicious, even if people noticed.

Soon enough there was a large cloud of dirt flying a mile or so in the air; the shape it formed looked akin to a mushroom bomb, as the cloud formed a similar shape to one. Talon allowed himself to have at least a little bit of a rough landing, in keeping with the effect of total helplessness.

Pappianna's trident flipped as they prong plunged into the ground snapping off in the process. The trident was more or less okay, with the exception of a few dents in the metal work here and there, also caked in mud and dirt. Unfortunately neither of the occupants stayed conscious through the crash landing. Both were seated in the trident, seemingly unhurt. Apart from the few droplets of blood escaped from Ajax's right arm.

Talon however was very much conscious and very much angry as well as panicked. The crash he witnessed was terrifying; he just hoped they were okay. He shook his head, he need to concentrate. He undid his safety harness and stepped out of his trident giving it a quick once over as he headed for Ajax's own. He glared when he noticed the paintwork had been scratched. He walked forward a while longer looking around, there were trees, lots and lots…of trees, he glanced at the ground, dirt, just dirt and soil. He had also noticed a few earth critters, insects and birds. He shuddered, he'd been here just a few minutes and already he wanted out.

He stopped just short of his friend's trident, he was standing next to the shoot, he pressed a button, and the doors swooshed open. His eye's widened, he saw the blood on Ajax's arm, and carefully pulled him out onto the dirt ground. He then turned back and unhooked Pappianna from the safety harness, carefully placing her on the ground next to Ajax, a good safe distance away from the trident.

He Eye's the loose prong, which was now at least five feet away from the rest of the trident; he cringed at the thought of what would happen if he lost both of his friends. He turned to the wreckage, there were large gashes on the sides of the ship, the head prong, the main balance support beam, or what was left of it, was raged and bent chipped and broken in numerous ways, he walked to the back of the trident and with some effort opened to the engine hold (like the hood of a car, but it's not at the front so I thought of another name for it) he sighed in relief _at least the engine isn't badly damaged…this'll make my job a lot easier _Talon thought to himself as he gave the engine a quick to do.

A deep and pained grunt sounded from the tree Talon had placed to two unconscious under. He turned to see Ajax sat up rubbing his head, and turning his attention to his arm "man…how do I miss these things?" Ajax gasped in surprise as he heard a voice sound from behind him.

"You tell me" Ajax sighed with relief when he saw it was only Talon walking up to him with what looked like a first aid kit.

"How long have I been out?" Ajax questioned, allowing Talon to tend to his wound.

"A few minutes a guess" Talon replied completely focused of his task.

An incoherent mumble sounded from the bundle next to them, they turned to see pepper, she tried to sit up, placing her hand gingerly on the ground next to her, and pressed hard as she tried to move into a sitting position. She gasped in surprise and pain and grasped her wrist in her hand, cradling it, she instead decided to push herself up with her elbows, and in now time at all was sat inspecting her wrist.

"How badly does it hurt?" Talon questioned earning Peppers gaze.

"Pretty bad" she replied passing her wrist to Talons outstretched palm.

"Can you move it?" he questioned again.

"No…" she said now feeling very angry with herself, and her wrist.

"Well, from the looks of things, you only sprained it, it should be okay in a few days, just keep it in this" he said had he tried a piece of cloth around her neck and placing her arm inside it "just rest it" talon gave a small smile as he saw Pappianna nod and smile gratefully.

"Hey- is my ship okay?" Ajax spoke up finally remembering the crash.

"Does it look it?" Talon stated raising an eyebrow. Ajax turned and gasped at the sight before him, his baby, his poor baby, mutilated! Ajax groaned in despair whist Pappianna walked toward the ship, smiling, she just hoped her little surprise was okay.

"What's she doing?" Ajax questioned his ears drooping, he'd only ever seem Pappianna smile like that when she had a 'surprise' for them, usually not an all that great surprise. He turned to Talon who looked at him and shrugged, it was then they heard a loud squeal, the stood up in alarm, only to have Pappianna run out with a small bag in her left hand.

"Look what I found! Here these are for you guys!" she set the bag on the ground and rummaged through it with her right hand "Ah-ha! Talon these are for you" she said flinging what looked like two piles of cloth at him.

Talon unrolled the cloth _what in the name of the gods?_ Was what he thought, he had unrolled a pair of black jeans with a simple white shirt, he looked up once again only to have three more items of clothing thrown at him. He placed the others on a near by boulder from what he could tell, he had been given a white belt, a white pair of converses (Emo trainers if you have no idea what they are) and a maroon jacket. He sighed; he wasn't going to like this.

Pappianna was still rummaging through the bag as she spoke "I thought, if he didn't look like we were from the military, we could get by easier"

Pappianna flung a pair of blue jeans at Ajax, with a grey shirt, he had a pair of black trainers thrown at him as well as a red belt and red fingerless gloves (think Jordan's, but red) Ajax sighed as he caught the last item of clothing _this isn't going to end well…_Ajax thought taking a look at the plain sky blue hoody he'd been thrown

"I have my stuff on, don't worry, I bought spares" she said with a huge grin on her face, which was only taken off because Talon protested

"These are earth clothes…" he stated still looking at his own set of clothes.

"Well duh, we could look less harmless with this stuff on then armour" she said eying the male crogs who were currently in their uniforms "put them on, hurry" she said turning around.

The males looked at one another and sighed in defeat, when Pappianna made up her mind about something, there was no changing it. a few minutes passed and they were finally done, it took them a while to figure out what went where, but they managed it "you can turn around now Pepper" Ajax said after checking Talon was done.

Pappianna gasped in surprise "By. The. Gods." She squealed "See! I can dress anyone!" she winked and formed the peace sign in triumph with her right hand. She snapped herself out of her own strange behaviour "Wow…I crash really can change a person, anyway, talon get on with leaking your fuel, Ajax, put the uniforms in the tridents, I'll stand watch"

Both males nodded and set to work.


	7. The past is ever haunting

Authors note: **Important! Read or be VERY confused for the rest of forever! **This chapter is set a day before any sigh of any sort of crash, do Pepper and friends have no arrived on earth. This is sort of a "what happened on earth while pepper was plotting to kill Eva" part of the story.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Oban, but I do own a pair of socks!

Practically dead;

Chapter seven: The past is ever haunting.

It had been only a week since Oban (and yes Kross' coma was a short one, lucky him XD) she and her father had been living together, both still having trouble readjusting to life on earth and life with each other. Mol- Eva, as Don Wei kept calling her, was still adjusting to having to call her by her real name, it shouldn't have been hard, but surprisingly, it was.

Eva wasn't really having that much trouble with the naming of the true identity, she knew who he was, always would, but still, she had trouble adjusting to his mistrusting, and frustrated mood. He always seemed angry; he always seemed to be beating himself up for Mya's death, and for leaving Eva behind.

Eva sat in her room, in a simple white baggy shirt and a pair of boy cut jeans on, she still had her mother's goggles resting atop her head, unfortunately, she sad on her bed with her knee's hugged into her chest with her face buried in her lap, she was sobbing quietly, she always did, after school, during school, at home, in the bathroom, the kitchen, under her favourite tree in the forest, anywhere she went, she would cry.

She would cry because of her memories, the horrible truths she had been faced with were almost too much to bear. She thought of Aikka and their on-and-off friendship, she'd always hoped it could be more then that, but neither would allow it. She thought of her over-protective partner- Jordan C. Wilde- the _new_ avatar. She thought of how quickly her life unravelled before her, facing Canaletto, he had told her the trust, of how she was but a pawn in his sick and twisted game of chess. Sick and twisted was right. He played with fate; he had woven and unwoven the very foundation of her future, her true future. She swap it with _this_, just to meet her, he said, cold and cruel, like the beast he was, like the Lord of Purity he claimed to be. Her life, past the age of five, was a _lie_. That was when she had been placed on that god forsaken chess board. Moved from place to place, faced with one hardship after another, she had _finally _reached the end. However, the after effect, unfortunately, were still in play.

That one memory, the one that kept playing over and over again in her head…

_Canaletto had finally had the chance to obtain the avatars power once more, ten thousand years he had been waiting, just waiting, and thinking, manipulating, causing pain, anger, and sadness as he altered fate over and over, to bring Eva to where she is at this exact moment. Under _his_ control. He was there, controlling her, making her, against her will. To activate the triangular alter at the centre of the Temple of the Heart._

_He eye's widened as her loose fists opened, again, against her will, to touch the alter, to activate it; to activate the entire galaxies death sentence._

_Eva looked around at this point, free to gaze where she wished- anywhere but at Canaletto, her eyes wondered frantically, until she came to a ledge, something was moving, making it's way toward the edge- oh god… it was Jordan, she screamed for him to stop, it was too late, he had made his decision. He jumped; he smiled at her as he fell._

"_I love you, Molly" was all he said before he became engulfed by the ever growing blue orb of power, the light, somehow, banished Canaletto, he was gone, forever._

A knock at the door shocked Eva out of her sorrowful thoughts and bought her back into reality, what she hoped was her true reality. She paused a moment before speaking "go away…" she said dabbing the tears off her tattooed cheeks.

There was a silence before the door opened slightly, a raven haired man with dark sun glasses poked his head confidently through the door "Hey, little mouse"

"Rick…" she said, instinctively wiping her already dry face of any tears "what is it?"

Rick smiled comfortingly as he stepped into the room "you haven't left your room all day Little Mouse, Don's worried sick." He received a sigh in response before continuing "Hey, let's go get some dinner, I'm stayin' a while, so tomorrow, maybe we could go for a walk…"

Eva smiled weakly and nodded stepping off her bed "I'd like that…"

Eva walked down the stairs and turned right at the stairs, turning into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen island. She sighed noting that, it had taken just one visit from Rick to get her out of her room, Don had tried, he tried so many times, she had been ill with regret and depression since her return from Oban, but lately, it's been bad.

"Hey Little Mouse…" Eva looked up at Rick as he picked up the phone "Pepperoni pizza, right?" Eva nodded with a smile, he knew her too well. He was just one of those people you could always get along with.

"Thanks Rick…for everything…" said sighed, deciding her entangled hands were more interesting.

Rick raised an eyebrow "Jordan wouldn't want this Little Mouse" _oh; damn…_he struck a nerve. He saw her wince at the comment; a little tear slid its way down her face halting somewhere along her striped cheek.

"I know" Eva croaked. She knew Rick didn't know Jordan was the new avatar, Jordan never came back. Jordan was declared dead. Jordan…was lost either way…


	8. Never talk to strangers

Authors note: **Important:** we're back at the present day, the day of the crash.

Disclaimer: I don't own Oban; if I did I would have made a scene during the series with Jordan looking at himself in the mirror wearing a certain blue dress on.

Practically dead;

Chapter eight: Never talk to strangers.

Eva woke with a promise, today was the day she'd get to show Rick around her "Eva" spots. He jumped out her bed before quickly making it (more like throwing the cover over the bed to it looked presentable to guests) she then walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out pair of navy blue boy cut jeans and a black belt and purple socks, she also pulled out a black long-sleeved shirt with an open neck, so you could just view her collar bones. Smiling triumphantly at her choice of clothing she ran to the bathroom.

On the way she ran past Don Wei who was just about to enter the bathroom when she shot past him yelling "Baggzies!" and shut the door in his face, Don sighed in defeat and went downstairs to prepare breakfast, Eva, would be a while.

* * *

Don Wei entered the kitchen to see Rick sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper, no doubt pouring over the star-racing page, Don knew just how much he missed it. Rick took a gulp of his coffee, it was then that Don noticed it was in the trench coat he wore back on Alwas _he must have paid good money for that Coat…_Don Thought shaking his head and walking toward the stove.

"Good morning Rick" Don said taking out a few pots and pans read for breakfast. Rick smiled and walked over to the cupboard that held the plates and other kitchen utensils.

"Mornin' Don" Rick said taking three plates out and placing then on the table he's previously sat at.

"I hope you slept well, Eva seemed very energetic when I saw her upstairs" Don was by now in the fridge removing various vegetables and breakfast stuffs.

Rick moved to the draw where the knives and forks were held hostage "I slept fine Don, she's finally cheerin' up" he said removing three pairs on knives and forks.

Don nodded solemnly and asked "how do you feel about omelettes?" Rick just smiled and nodded in approval whilst leaving the room to go find Eva.

Rick was walking on the wooden floor of the Wei household and turned to the right, to face the stairs. He smirked as he herd a sudden thundering of footsteps from above, Eva had finally emerged from the bathroom. He took a step forward walking up the stairs he soon faced Eva in the middle of the stairs.

"Morning Rick!" she said happily.

"Not going to dry your hair, Little Mouse?" he eyes her hair as did she, she shook her head, she never did, he only ever used a towel, she had never really been the type of girl to sit around using a hairdryer for god-knows how long.

Rick smiled and continued to talk "See ya' down at breakfast Little Mouse, don't forget to eat it, you'll need the energy for the little tour you're giving me" with that Eva smiled and ran down the stairs happily into the kitchen.

* * *

"Morning Dad" Eva exclaimed happily.

"Just in time Eva, I was afraid I'd have to call you for breakfast" he said whilst plating a freshly cooked omelette.

"Smells Great, the Wei special?" Eva questioned looking at her father as he placed the food down in front of her. He nodded.

"Eat up" he said walking back to tend to the other omelette left cooking in the frying pan.

Eva spoke with her mouth half full "sho what you dowin' tosday?" he words had been muffled.

"Unfortunately, working. There have been a few problems at Wei Enterprise and Stan and Koji need me to look over some forms" Ah yes, who could forget Stan and Koji, the inseparable pair who were now working for Don and were also never far from each other, Stand was always near to hang off Koji's shoulder and Koji was always there to hide behind Stan if things got tough. She hadn't seen them in a while; she figured while she was touring with Rick she'd pay them a visit. Eva chuckled to herself as she reminisced.

Meanwhile don had laid two fresh omelettes on the table and began to eat his own whilst Rick took his seat and began eating his breakfast, he had to admit, he loved a good breakfast, and this was certainly one of the best he'd had in a while.

Soon Eva's plate was rid of its contents ands shot up from her chair. To ran to the living room in search of her black trainers

_They _have_ to choose today to go missing, don't they? _Eva thought ducking to her knees and hand to peer underneath the setae, she sighed and moved to the next chair, they hadn't been hiding up _that_ particular chair. He smiled with glee and he reached under the single-seat chair and pulled out one black trainer _now for the other one…wait, it's not there _she thought peering underneath the chair again. She sighed.

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, she saw a black blob of…something! Turning her head, she grinned "Gotcha'" she said walking over to the other shoe and picking it up. She sat down on the floor and pulled on her trainers and stood to find Rick looking down at her.

"Ready to go, Little Mouse?" he asked, thought it was more of a statement. Eva smiled and took hold of Rick's hand and dragged him out the house. First stop, the Willow.

* * *

They had only been walking for about half an hour when they reached the clearing, Eva smiled; she was nearing her favourite tree, the Willow tree right in the middle of the forest near a pond.

"How far now, little mouse?" Rick asked taking a sip of water from his canteen, one that Eva had packed in case they needed a drink.

"You can't seriously be tired now, can you?" she grinned at Rick who shrugged in a 'what can I say' manner.

"Not far, Rick, it's just up that hill" Eva turned to point to the forest's edge.

"Not to be rude, but you said _that _ten minutes ago" Rick smirked.

"I- well- YES! I did, but this time I mean it…" Eva said turning around to start walking again when a large puff of smoke shot into the sky and the loud grinding of metal snapping sounded.

Rick tackled Eva to the ground "Sorry" he said "just a first-reaction thing…" he said standing up and hauling Eva off the ground.

Eva's smiled widened as she took hold of Rick's hand "No problem- let's go!" said pulling on Ricks arm as she ran.

"Little mouse, I think we're supposed to be running away from loud booms!" Rick retorted in protest unable to release his hands from Eva's death-grip.

"Oh you sound just like Jordan! Where's your sense of adventure!" she said still running she came the forests edge.

"I never really had one little mouse, just the need to get to the bottom of things!" she retorted.

Eva had kept running as she spoke again "That'll do!" she said giggling slightly; she knew she'd silenced Rick but the fist he had formed whilst being pulled along loosened.

* * *

Pappianna glared at the two formed running toward them from upon a tree "Company…" she said simply before jumping back down to solid ground.

"Make with the innocent Boys!" she said obviously referring to them about the tasks they were attending to "Hide it!"

They nodded, Ajax looked up one of the tridents with the uniforms in and Talon ceased leaking his trident of its petrol "What's our story?" Talon said almost glaring at Pappianna.

She smiled "We're simply travellers who crashed at the moment, I'll elaborate more about our story as I go along, I…haven't exactly…thought…that…through?"

Ajax put his hand to his head "Aiyaaa…Gods save us…" she said taking a seat on the floor and leaning against a nearby willow tree. (Not that he knew what tree it was or who's it was considered)

Talon smiled taking some food from his bag and passed around was appeared to be long sticks of the Crogasian equivalent of jerky. Every single one of those crogs gladly dug into their make-shift meal. Or at least they were about to. Pappianna's ear's twitched at the sound of a twig snapping nearby. She rolled her eyes and singled for the men to stay put.

Peering from behind a tree Pappianna smirked as she saw and red and black haired girl, Pappianna guessed she was around her mid-teens wearing quiet funny attire, Pappianna just had to stifle a laugh.

She noticed that next to the young girl with was a rather tall, and, she hated to admit but she was also a devilishly handsome human. She winced at the mere thought of humans being anything other them murdering, life-stealing scum. Especially the racer girl; her eyes widened _damn it!_ she had just realized her had virtually no clue as to what the girl looked like, the only thing that came to mind was_ Earth-girl, pilot, Molly, Wei… _

She had heard the name Molly from Kross during one of his transmissions to home while he was away; he had made just, one or two calls back home to check on his _beloved._

She moved quickly, body pressed against the tree so they would not see her as they walked past. She smirked.

Pappianna came up behind them not making a single sound, not even making the leaves rustle unearth her feet, she cleared her throat and both humans froze out of sheer shock and fear. They turned slowly.

"Hello!" she exclaimed, seemingly happy.

Eva backed into Rick and she screamed in shock (it wasn't a long one, more like one you'd hear if a stick nearly hit you in the face) and Rick, held her shoulders protectively glowering at the Crog.

"What's a crog doing on _our _planet?" he glared at her, his eye's in thin slits, not that anyone could see through they dark glass of his shades.

"Well, I got lost and me and my friends-" the Crog began.

"There-are more of you?" Eva questioned, just about over the little scare but was still not over the fact that this crog had not tried to kill them already.

"Just two more, listen, we crashed and we need…help…" she backed away slightly, just now starting to feel uncomfortable under the male humans scrutinizing gaze.

A moments silence followed "Um…you know what- never mind!" she seemed a little frightened and ran off into the woods.

Eva looked up at Rick, glaring slightly "Great, you scared her, Smooth, Rick…smooth" she turned and followed the crog down the path she had taken in the woods, onlookers would have thought her crazy, and Rick did indeed think her crazy.

"Ev-wait for me!" Rick called following her.

It was a few more minutes when Eva skidded to a halt. She'd found them. She'd found the female crog, and I guess she'd found the other two she'd been talking about. She was frozen, all three pairs on eyes upon her. _Why me…why do I keep doing this to myself?! _Eva was mentally kicking herself for acting without thinking- again! It was then that Rick ran into her, as he'd skidded to a halt as well, all he wanted to do was find Eva and go- but no! She just _had_ to find the crogs, meaning he just_ had_ to find her _with _the crogs…joyous days…

Pappianna turned to her team mates and gave them a wink _it worked! _She thought to herself, turning back to the humans and walking up to them.

"That's them! The humans I told you of! That's them!" she pointed her finger at them as if to prove a point.

"They frightened you?" The male crog in blue jeans said taking a step forward defensively.

"Oh Ajax stop it, you'll scare _them_" The female said with for her was an odd amount of concern in her voice.

The humans stood just watching the exchange as it continued "Well, I apologize if I felt a need to protect my friend" the one called Ajax retorted folding his arms. The other male next to him just rolled his eyes. So far, Eva noted, he hadn't said a word.


	9. The truth is out

Authors note: Oh wow! I love you people! I have had seventeen reviews! Thankies to you all! You know who you are!

Disclaimer: Aikka, Jordan, Aikka, Jordan? Aikka!

Practically dead;

Chapter nine: The truth is out.

Eva stood there motionless for a few moments, there was an awkward silence spread between the five of them. _Oh great…_Eva thought to herself "um…" She desperately tried to break the silence and get this over and done with.

"I have a question…" Pappianna continued looking to Eva who was looking upon her with curious eyes, she continued "…what planet…are we on?" she asked, playing dump of course. _This IS all an act, remember?_

Eva held her breath before stuttering "E-Earth…" she noticed Rick besides her shaking his head…

"It's funny, a crog who _doesn't_ know where Earth is" she stated, Pappianna's eye's widened as the males behind her glared the or so very familiar death glares the crogs had out to those to do not please them.

"W-we weren't headed here…w-we…crashed" Pappianna stuttered.

"Forgive us for not making Earth the main target for once…" Talon said, his voice was deep and dangerous, Eva backed into Rick.

"Talon, calm down you're not usually like this…" she turned to him he responded by turning away and mumbling "…humans…"

"So, then where were you headed?" Rick asked sceptically.

"We're travellers, we don't know or care" Ajax stated taking a bite out of the uneaten jerky he had in his large hand. Pappianna nodded, inwardly sighing in relief.

"So, how'd you crash…?" Eva asked scratching her head.

Talon thought quickly "Turbulence…is not a force to be reckoned with…" she stated calmly.

Ajax took a seat of the ground, tired from standing; Talon looked over and joined him, both of them mumbling their own conversation about home and how much they wanted to go back, partly because they thought this whole "field trip" was a waste of time and partly because it was true. Pappianna beckoned the humans over as she walked to join them on the floor of the forest.

Eva was the first to make a move, she reluctantly stepped forward _Okay, that was the first and hardest step, the rest should be a breeze…_she thought to herself out of anxiety grinding her teeth together behind a tightly clamped mouth. Rick placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, although it was obvious to both of them that they were nervous, and Rick was still untrusting. But he had not wanted Eva to go alone, he would always protect her, and that was just what he was going to do.

They sat between the large male Crogs who were now talking about food, how odd? Not universal domination, but food. The one by the name of Talon laughed as the other, who appeared to go by the name of Ajax spoke of is mothers home cooking, and how she had not been all that great and once so managed to burn the Crogasian equivalent of eggs.

Pappianna smiled and took out two sticks of jerky "Here, you would like something to eat?" The pair of humans looked at one another then back at the food "it's Haita- your Earth jerky basically" she smiled as they took it, though reluctantly.

They looked at it for a moment "What, do you think I poisoned it or something?" Pappianna joked, though it was clear there was an air of seriousness about the question, she sighed as the humans gave her a look that said 'you tell us' "Look" she took out another and bit into it "yours is still in the packet, how should I have poisoned it?" they looked at one another and shrugged biting into the jerky.

"You said this was Earth, right?" Ajax asked, playing along with Pappianna's little game.

Rick nodded "yeah…" he replied wearily.

"Is this not the planet the great Earth pilot Molly resides?" Talon questioned. Pappianna's gaze turned to the humans, both staring at Talon in disbelief "What, did you think we hadn't heard?"

"No…but how-" Eva began.

"News travels quickly" Pappianna countered "Please, does Molly reside here?"

"Yeah…" Eva said in slight daze _you moron! Now they'll want to know where!_ She scolded herself "Why…"

"We figure while we're stuck here, we'll congratulate her…" Ajax supplied "what are your names anyway…"

Rick answered too quickly for Eva to say anything "I'm Rick" he gestured to himself, and then to Eva "And this is Eva Wei"

"Nice to meet you, I am Pappianna, my friends call me Pepper" he gestured to herself "This is Ajax" she gestured to him "and this is Talon" she gestured to him last "Eva weiiiit (hehe play on words) a second!"

Eva and Rick looked at one another raising an eyebrow "Your Eva Wei, so that mean your- your Molly! Aren't you?!" Pappianna exclaimed excitedly.

There was silence again as Eva began to slowly shift backwards away form the Crogs, Rick was joining her "run…" he mumbled as he lurked off the ground and turned on her heels, he followed soon after looking behind him to see if anyone was following, oh crap, the males were still sat on the ground sat in slight confusion as to what the HECK just happened, but, the females, damn it, she's gone, but where. He couldn't find her anywhere.

* * *

Above the humans, in the tree's that's where she was, chasing them, there she couldn't be seen, it was a common fast that although male Crogs' were inhumanly strong (duh) they were also very fast, however, it was not so well-known that females Crogs' being the smaller half of their powerful race we even faster, more agile, and almost equally as strong. This particular female, was the fastest female in her school, she was the strongest too, and the most cunning, all these derived from her lineage, from Toros… of course she did gain her looks and her determination and the taste for shall we say 'an eye for an eye' form her mother, although, Toros being her father caused her to be more aggressive at times making things seem like 'A life for a life' and that was just what she planned to do. But indeed, this operation would take time, time and a _lot _patients and persistence.

She smirked, she'd earn their trust even if she had to work a lifetime, this wasn't just for Kross, this was for Toros too, This Eva girl was the cause of his death, and the cause for Kross' abandonment, that's what Pepper felt it was, abandonment. She had almost nothing left, both her parents were dead, her fiancé doesn't remember her, do to a coma inflicted upon him by a small insignificant speck of a human being, by the gods, now she knows where and who Molly is, there will be _no stopping her_.

She vowed she would finish this, once and for all.

She thought of all the thing's she'd do to the worthless human as she jumped from branch to branch with speed and elegance.

They were so close…


	10. Patience and persistence

Authors note: Umm…I really have nothing to comment on…except that I worked on this chapter for god-knows how long… (Also I am aware that most of this is in fact conversation, I apologise!)

Disclaimer: The worst thing to see in the morning: a crog prancing down a corridor wearing a pair of frilly pink socks…

Practically dead;

Chapter ten: Patience and persistence.

Pappianna still jumped form tree to tree in pursuit of the humans that had run form her camp _there is _no_ way I am letting you get away…not now…_she thought as she jumped onto a large oak tree, she shook slightly almost having lost her footing, her vital footing- it looked like a long way down, he eyed they humans who were now slightly ahead of her because she'd stopped, she glared daggers at her targets and continued onto the next tree managing to keep her balance and nurse her damaged wrist…_ thank the gods it's not my foot…_

Below her Eva stopped taking in deep ragged breaths- she was tired and she was frightened "Too…close…" she panted.

Rick came up behind her shaking his head taking in deeper breaths, his vision had been becoming blurry- he was becoming a nervous wreck, he had been told to avoid stress- more importantly almost any sort of activity able to provide adrenalin rushes- too much, as he found out, could kill him "Little mouse, we have to keep going" he stated between breathes "I doubt we're in the clear…"

Pappianna smirked and jumped from the tree and headed to the ground- she grunted in pain and her damaged wrist knocked the side of the tree a burst of pain shot through her entire arm "Rick you're-" She cut Eva off after landing in front of her, nursing her wrist close to her chest "Aahh!" she screamed.

Pappianna had to keep form smirking and laughing at the girls ignorance "-please! Wait! I do not wish to harm you, Miss Wei-"

"Well then what do you want!" Eva shouted unsure if her voice was as fierce as she wanted it to be.

Shocked by the tone she took a pace from her and backed into Rick, she turned abruptly with a loud squeak- Rick took hold of her damaged wrist and she whimpered in pain "p-p-please! Let me go! It…hurts…" Rick grip only tightened, she let out a pained yelp. If only she wasn't playing the helpless type.

Eva winced, she knew Rick had a vendetta against the crogs since he heard what they tried to do to Eva- it seemed everyone did, when it came to crogs, even Jordan lost his Grandfather to them… she shook her head "Rick…please…let go of her…" Rick growled in frustration and gave peppers wrist one final tight squeeze as she gave out a pained cry, he let her go and she fell to the dirt floor nursing her wrist once again close to her chest still whimpering in pain…

"I-I-I…I j-just w-wanted h-help" she stuttered letting a tear fall down her face.

Eva gave a guilty sigh and knelt down next to the pained crog "may I…have a look at that" she tried to reach for pepper's wrist, Pappianna jerked her hand away cursing when she hugged it too tightly.

Rick gave out a 'pfft' "and you said you wanted help…" she shook his head sceptically.

"Exactly…now…we can start here?" Eva asked uncertainly…

"You'll be the one looking at it…right?" she asked Eva, glancing at Rick with practiced fear in her eyes- and maybe just a tad bit of really honest fear there too- she'd past Rick's test- he seemed to be convinced she was really scared of him.

"Yeah…I'll be looking at it…" she said glancing at Rick as well. Pappianna gingerly let her hand meet the earthlings for inspection, she examined it, twisting it carefully, little did they know Pepper was inwardly gagging with every second she was in contact with the human girl- sure that feminine-looking guy hurt her, but it was almost truly nothing until that last squeeze…

"T-Thank you…" _oh gods…why did she have to say…that?_ "I'll be okay…" she took her hands back, placing it in the sling that was around her neck.

"Hey…if you had that…then why-" Eva began

"I had to lose it while I was 'chasing' you" she voice dripped with sarcasm when she said 'chasing'…

She stood shakily she glared at Rick when he spoke "and there I was thinking all Crogs were fearless…" she own voice dripping with venomous sarcasm.

"Typical" Pepper stated "Humans are so stereotypical" he own voice thick and dangerous.

"Big word for a crog, I always thought the biggest phrase they used was 'universal domination' or something moronic" Rick's voice was steady still venomously sarcastic.

"Rick-"

"Put an end to this 'battle of wits' you are so intent upon winning, you will not in the end" she gritted her teeth, doing well to hide the fact she really, really wanted to tear him limb from limb.

Eva gave an agitated sigh- she noticed Rick open his mouth to retort to Pappianna's statement when she shouted "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!?" they froze and looked at her, confusion and then guilt slipped across their faces before slipping back to confusion.

"I'm sorry?" Pepper questioned wondering if it was the right to apologise.

Eva scowled, boy she was angry "Right, will you listen to me now?" she asked irritation gripping her tone. They both nod, not wanted to anger the young teen further.

"Right well, we'll help you" at this Rick growled again and Pappianna smiled at Eva- again something she was inwardly gagging about "We'll come here for visits, but I still don't trust you enough to take you anywhere, so you'll have to stick around until I do- We'll bring you supplies if you need them" she smiled.

Pappianna gave a cheerful giggle before taking Eva's right hand in her undamaged left one and shook it "t-thank you!" she said running off back the way she came, as she ran she gave Rick one final glare, causing him to feel uneasy about the whole situation…

"Little mouse…I don't like this…" Rick stated in a low, thoughtful voice.

"Oh Rick, you don't like anything…" she tried to be positive, but both Rick and Eva knew that this wasn't going to be an easy, or smooth ride…


	11. Memories

Authors note: **Important:** sorry but we are starting with a flashback that I haven't wrote about previously, so if your confused I can understand, but you shouldn't be because I'm telling you now. **The flashback **is **set during** the time when Pepper is waiting for Ajax and talon to get back with the tridents outside the top military base.

Disclaimer: If you are Eva and you can't find your shoe…it ran off with the shoelace.

Practically dead;

Chapter eleven: Memories.

_Pappianna lent against the wall, brows knitted together with a plan formulating in her head. She kicked the wall lightly with the heels of her foot and her arm crossed over her chest she was glaring at the pavement._

_She sighed to herself every so often when she found a plan that would backfire if taking a wrong turn down the path of what was to her…justice and to others vengeance. She wanted her vengeance to hurt, and hurt badly but not just physically she wanted it to hurt mentally and emotionally just like she did. Pappianna hurt in every way imaginable was this Molly girls turn._

_Her ears twitched at the familiar sound of footsteps, she turned her head to the right just enough to see the beings feet stop just a few feet away form her "What do you want?" she spoke in a raspy angry voice, choosing to glare at the arrivals feet rather then the pavement._

"_Pepper…we heard you went a little…crazy?" the voice belong to a close friend of hers…Revili._

"_I'm not crazy…just pissed off" she stated turning her gaze to the pavement once again, she sighed angrily "any particular reason you're here?"_

"_Umm…we were on our way to see Kross, when we got there, he told us what happened…Pepper…?" Tay started_

"_What?"_

"_I'm sorry" she finished reluctantly_

_It was then they both backed up a few paces as Pappianna had started laughing, slowly at first then is got louder and more…manic…she seemed…insane "no you're not, neither of you are, I _don't_ need your pity"_

"_Pepper?" Revili began "Don't go…its too risky"_

_At that Pappianna began laughing that very same insane laughter again this time she collapsed onto the floor "Risky?" she continued to laugh "it's not risky! It's vengeance" _

"_Pappianna please, you're scaring me" Tay stated grabbing hold of Revili's arm._

_Pappianna chuckled slightly as she stood leaning on the dull grey wall for support, she clutched her stomach, her side were aching form all the laughing she had done, to tell you the truth, she even kind of scared herself. She took her hand off the wall and smoothed over her outfit "…I'm sorry Tay…but I'm still going, and I'm still getting my revenge this isn't for me, it's for General Kross and more importantly, it's for my father…" _

_Revili gave a solemn nod and Tay spoke up "…alright…just be careful, come on Revili, I think we need to go back to the hospital"_

_Pappianna snorted at the comment and ignored them when they said goodbye and a reluctant good luck. She lent against the wall again in very much the same position she had been before, heel tapping the wall, arms folded across her chest glaring at the pavement, alone._

Deep in the forest in the middle of…somewhere, where they were they didn't know, all they knew was that Eva was around somewhere near by, living somewhere else what wasn't the forest, for now, that was their home, until that is Pepper gained Eva's trust. It was late and she'd been thinking of her last moments under the Crog Imperium. She had to agree now, that she was indeed slowly losing her sanity and it was all Eva's fault, Pappianna lay on her back gazing up at the stars with her head resting in her hands. She shook her head dismissing the thoughts, now was not the time to be thinking you're boarding insanity. Now is the time to be thinking of how you will gain her trust so she could crush her like the parasite she is.

Truthfully she would've liked to slaughter her the second their eyes met then she found out who she truly was. But that would not have been nearly as satisfying as watching the look of horror and hurt that would be etched onto Eva's face when she faced death at the hands of one she once trusted. Nothing. Absolutely nothing would go wrong. She plan was fool proof on less of course if one of her team mates decides to act the fool in the game of heroics then she would deal with them. No mercy. They know important this is to her and she was sure neither of them wanted their lived to end any time soon.

If they cross her. She will cross them.


	12. Outrageous ideas

Authors note: Do we always have to have one of these?

Disclaimer: You know; if I have to write these everyday, I'm bound to run out sooner or later.

Practically dead;

Chapter twelve: Outrageous ideas.

Eva had gotten home that day later then she had planned and she just prayed her dad wasn't home yet she waited impatiently at the door while Rick casually strutted over to it himself holding the door key in his hand.

She tapped her foot when while he put the key in the key hole and turned it and simultaneously turning the door knob to open the door, Eva rocketed inside and ran upstairs and taking a left to go to her room she ran into a wall and landed with an 'Eep' she rubbed her nose- oddly enough it didn't hurt as much as it should have she slowly looked up with her hand still on her nose. Her eye's widened as she looked upon the stern face of her father "Where were you, young lady?"

"Umm…touring with Rick?" she answered nervously.

Don sighed as Eva stood up "you were supposed to be back an hour ago"

Rick had rounded the stairs just in time to save Eva's skin "Yeah, Don, that was my fault, I ran into an old friend out moved here a couple of summer's back." Don glared scrutinizing him "catch-up time, ya' know Don"

Don sighed in defeat and dropped his shoulders "Eva, just remember to keep track the of time when you go out…" Eva nodded dumbly and Don left down to the kitchen, she looked to Rick and mumbled "thanks…"

"No problem, little mouse" she smiled and ruffled her hair and followed Don's path into the kitchen.

* * *

Talon and Ajax had been working on their tridents since Pappianna began chasing after to the humans, and still only a little progress had been made. They figured they best not waste time worrying for Pappianna because they knew she was very much capable of looking after herself _and _the tridents weren't exactly going to repair themselves now, were they?

Talon was repairing the front of Ajax's trident using a welding tool that he kept handy with him for the trip, as well as various other tools needed for repairing damaged ships.

He laughed to himself hearing Ajax swear loudly at the engine or whatever other part of the ship he was fixing.

They were both bought to attention by an annoyed growl coming from behind them, they turned each smiling to themselves when they saw Pepper mumbling profanities all seemingly directed at the male human. Talon couldn't help but ask "lose 'em?"

She glowered at him "Quit the opposite, actually"

Ajax's ear's twitched "and…?"

"They said they might come back…" she said glancing at her wrist

Talon sighed "What if they don't?" he folded his arms around his chest and raising an eyebrow, obviously thinking that she'd forgotten that they are stranded on this good-for-nothing planet and she had just let them walk out on her.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not a complete idiot…I did follow them for a while" she said smirking triumphantly and putting her hands together and resting them on the best of her neck in a very smug fashion "I know where their home is from here…" with that she let her fall down in front of her and continued to cradle her damaged wrist.

Ajax chuckled returning to work on his trident whilst Talon gave a quick once-over inspection of his female companion "are you alright? You haven't let go of your wrist since you go here"

She looked at Talon for a moment thinking he was mad and then she looked down at her wrist "oh…right…the pathetic earth-male knows how to hurt a 'helpless' girl" she drawled bitterly.

"He hurt you?" Ajax asked suddenly back with the real world.

"You don't say" she said sarcastically.

* * *

Eva stood for a moment outside the kitchen door listening to the sounds of light clanging of pots and pans, the mumbling of words spoken between the two males now inside, also hearing the soft clink cutlery hitting against each other and the soft almost inaudible thud as they were set on the table on either side of the plates.

She heard the voiced mumbling something about summer being over soon and that she would have to go back, he heard Rick chuckle at the mention of Don making sure she had done all her homework. She has…mostly. She was having trouble picking up her maths homework, she hated maths and she hated it even more as they had been doing algebra, oh how she hated algebra.

She was snapped back to reality when the door opened to reveal Rick, who was, by the way, wide-eyed behind his shades "Hey…little mouse…dinner's ready"

Eva smiled up at him awkwardly "Thanks…Rick" with that she squeezed past him and walked up to her dad.

"Yes Eva?" Don asked raising an eyebrow at his daughter's suspicious behaviour.

"Dad…there are Crogs…in the woods" She said innocently, Don put a hand on his heart as if he was having a heart-attack.

"Eva, it's not nice to joke about that sort of thing…" he stated weakly.

Rick was watching from the table putting a spoonful of peas in his mouth and chewing, he had thought Eva would come out with it sooner rather then later but, he hadn't expected her to come out with it as easily as it had. He sighed and stood once he swallowed his peas "Actually Don, she's not joking…" Don looked at his shocked as she strolled over to the Wei pair "there are three of them, they say they are travellers"

Eva nodded "yeah, they crashed, I saw their ships- and they gave us jerky- and two of them are injured!" she said hurriedly.

"You spoke to them?!" Don raged.

"Don, what else could we do?" Rick asked the rhetorical question everyone hated; knowing you didn't have a decent answer to give would always shut people up.

"Dad, they crashed, they didn't hurt either of us, and they asked for our help…"

"You're not suggesting…"

"Yeah, Don, that's what we're suggesting" he said, not liking the idea himself but, once Eva had an idea in her head, you would have to beat it out of her to get it gone but since no one had the heart to do such a thing, they knew that she would keep fighting until she got what she wants.

"Please Dad, they were really nice, they'll be found if we don't help them, and who knows what'll happen then?" she asked desperately.

"Fine…you, young lady, are to keep them in line…" he agreed reluctantly.


	13. School

Authors note: Yes, I will try my best to improve my writing; it has been getting a little slack recently. I'm really, really sorry I didn't update last week, but things happen, but I did give you all a long chapter to read today!

Disclaimer: I'm just trying to think what Aikka would look like with a nose…just hang on; I'll give you your disclaimer in a sec.

Practically dead;

Chapter thirteen: School.

Morning had come much like it usually did for Eva Wei, the sun shone brightly onto violet curtains causing dim violet rays to fill the room, Eva dug deeper into the covers as her alarm clock sounded sending annoying, repetitive, loud beeping throughout the room. Yes, today was like any other day, with one exception, she was going to her new school today.

Eva had left her last school on the grounds that she didn't feel comfortable there and that she wasn't really welcomed there in the first place, no one had befriended her, those that tried were too snobby for her tastes and well, she left.

The best thing was that this new school wasn't as posh as her last one, she'd fit in better there, and people wouldn't criticize her for liking mechanics or something ridiculous like a hobby.

Eva sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes, she had been up most of the night worrying about the crogs in the woods. Had she made the right decision? Was this a trick? Could she trust them? She had kept asking herself all sorts of questions, some she knew the answers to, others she was as lost as a sheep without its flock.

She stood and glanced at her alarm clock with was still sending out its infamously annoying beeping tone, she turned it off quickly, still half asleep. She trudged over to her wardrobe and grabbed a pair of dark blue, denim boy cut jeans, a long sleeved black top (like the one she wore when she got back to earth) and a pair of black converse shoes. She smiled when she was ready and ran down the stairs, her shoes and her feet causing light thuds and creeks to sound throughout the house.

She soon slowed her pace down to walking speed as she head the clanging and scraping of pot, pans, knives and forks on the other side of the half open oak door. she smiled when she smelled waffles and burst into the room, she smiled at Rick who was currently serving up the grub "Mornin' Rick"

"Hey, little mouse" she greeted and set two plates of waffles on the table.

It was then that Eva realised that she had not seen her dad yet today "Where's dad?"

Rick sighed as she held a finger to his chin in mock thought "He had some problems to deal with at work, so, I guess I'll be taking you do school today" he smiled and ruffled her hair.

* * *

This new school she was going to wasn't big and it wasn't small, but she had to admit, she did like it so far, the red building was surrounded by students left, right and centre, all of whom were laughing and joking or running amok, others feeding lame excuses to teachers for not doing their homework, some students even noticed the new arrival. Some waved and smiled others shot her looks of uneasy or uncertainty and other's friendly and welcoming.

Rick walked with Eva up toward the front entrance of the school, ready to give her a pep talk "be good little mouse" Eva nodded "don't get into fights" she nodded again "and don't forge-" he never got to finish his sentence and she never go to nod as once they had reached the top of the cemented staircase the glass doors of the main entrance swung open and a boy run out of it and straight into the oncoming girl, both of whom landed with an 'oof' he scrambled to his feet and yanked Eva to her feet

"I'm so sorry! I'm really, really sorry! I'm such a klutz" she said brushing Eva's shoulders to clear any dust that may have landed itself on there, his green eyes were the perfect picture of concern and regret.

"No, it's fine, don't panic, I'm fine" she said whilst looking him over, he had dark matted golden hair, and she was quite pale, he was fairly lanky although he did have well-defined muscles.

"No, it's not fine, I'm an idiot and I should have been looking where I was going" he said brushing off his own deep red button-up shirt, it was then he noticed Rick gazing at him with one eyebrow cocked in amusement "please don't kill me" he asked suddenly and visibly wincing.

It's was then both Eva and Rick burst into fits of laughter "Nah', I won't kill ya' Bee"

By Now Eva was back on the floor clutching her gut still in fits "You…just lucky…Rick isn't…my dad…" soon enough she was calm enough to stand, and rather then taking in the view of his denim jeans and red trainers back to his fair featured face.

He looked slightly confused between the two "Wait…I was lost at 'Bee', what's going on?" with that said Eva giggled and Rick smirked and ruffled both children's hair before waving goodbye and heading to the car "No…I really am lost"

"Well, maybe you could stop me from getting lost and taking me to class" she said as she heard the bell sound and the pitter patter of students' footsteps behind her.

He smiled and gestured for her to follow him "Cool, I'm Will J. Wilson, what's your name?"

"It's Eva Wei" she smiled as she walked through the corridors "what year are you in?"

Will smirked as they walked on "Year ten, you?"

"Same, I'm supposed to be going to class 10a" she stated.

"Nice, come on, we're here" with that Will swung opened the door to classroom 10a and stepped inside, walking over to the teacher with Eva in toe "Morning Miss Anders, I have a new student for us, her name is Eva Wei"

"Ah, good, we were expecting you, Miss Wei, William, would you please show her around make her feel welcome?" she questioned, although it was more like a demand, as things like this usually did when it came to teachers.

"Absolutely, Miss" he nodded and took a seat next to the door, leaving Eva with the empty computer seat between himself and another classmate.

Eva quickly took the available seat thankful that this was not one of those teachers that insisted you tell them all about yourself and that she wouldn't be made a fool out of.

* * *

It was finally the lunch break, at long last, it was the lunch break, just an hour or so more and she'll be able to go home, sure it was a new school, but it was still a school. Will had luckily been in all of her lessons, so she had not had to ask help of a complete stranger but, now it was lunch she was figuring out that Will knew a lot of people, every so often you would find someone shouting his name and saying hi or coming up to him for a small chat or ask about the new girl. Will would usually turn to her and make apologies that say that they were his friends but not exactly who he would hang out with at school, what with them being in different years or casual acquaintances.

Not that he was against the idea of hanging out with others in different years, but he just felt more comfortable with those who were in his year and around the same age.

Both he and Eva were soon sat at a cafeteria chatting to one another when a fiery red-head boy came and sat beside them, grabbing Will's head, the watermelon red-haired boy nuggied the living lice out of it…not that will had lice "Jason, get off!" Will called out desperately.

The red-haired boy – formally known as Jason faked shock "Oh! Will! I didn't know you thought of me that way!" it was then Will's head shot up in surprise and jumped out of his seat in alarm when he received a girlish slap on the back, this Jason guy did like to make people uneasy.

"Drop it, Jas', anyway, Jason, this is Eva, Eva this is the weirdest guy you'll ever meet" Will said reseating himself on his chair, Eva smiled and greeted Jason.

With that he leaned over the table and whispered in Eva's ear "I'm not weird, he's just jealous I'm hotter then he is" he pulled away and winked at her and spoke out loud "She's cute" could he be anymore direct?

For some odd reason Will blushed a thousand shades of red with Eva, probably out of embarrassment, now that Eva had a chance to take a good look at Jason, his eye's were a simple chestnut colour with a few bit's of grey here and there, both of his orbs were glistening with mischief and the utmost happiness, he seemed to have a permanent smirk upon his face, and compared to Will's soft features, his were sharp and definite, but she had to admit, they were both attractive.

"Say can you guy's show me around the school grounds?" Eva asked having had enough of her lunch. Jason was the first to shoot up from his seat and nod, he carefully took her arm in his and started droning on about the people in the school, mean guy and girls and the nice kind and the people in between who seemed closed off to the people who weren't their friends and want it to stay that way. There were of course the carefree kind out were by his opinion the nicest people she would ever met, mainly because he and Will were two of them.

Will walked alongside Eva mouth the words 'he's so full of himself' or 'he's insane' every so often before deciding Eva had been through enough torture and attracting the red-heads attention "Hey, Jas', Kay Summers at twelve o'clock"

With that Jason ran off in search of Kay Summer's – a not-so-important-I'm-just-here-to-get-on your-nerves kind of girl, who also happens to be no match for Jason in the arts of playful flirting and bugging people.

"Who's she?" Eva asked.

"Just a girl Jason likes to mess with, nothing serious, I figured you needed a break from his talking"

Eva giggled unsurely for a moment "Thanks…"

* * *

Tonight, tonight will be the night she brings the crogs to her house, she sighed praying it was the right idea. Knowing Eva, she would mess up one way or another, and knowing her, she'd need some one to get her out of it.

(A/n: Know what, Pairing alert! I'm not sure who it should be; give me your votes on: Will and Eva or Jason and Eva? Oh I can't decide!)


	14. New home?

Authors note: I'm really sorry for the cruddiness of this chapter in advance, since it probably will be a load of crud. Don't kill me if it is! **Important:** there is another flashback that I haven't actually written about before so. Just a warning.

Disclaimer: I don't own Oban; if I did I would have made Jordan fall in love with a rock.

Practically dead;

Chapter Fourteen: New home?

It was finally dark, and they could get moving, sure the forest floor was nice and all, but they really needed to get into Eva's life. Well, specifically, Pappianna needed to get into Eva's life. And end it.

All three stood in silence, now clad in pitch black cloaks, three pairs of honey eyes shinning brightly under the light of the silver moon. A light breeze carrying dead leaves across the forest floor, cloaks swaying a little to the left.

"Pepper, we really don't have to do this, we can just go home" Ajax's voice broke eerie silence, Pappianna's eyes narrowed into thin slits.

"I told you before, I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing this for Kross, and I'm doing this for my Father! Of course we're doing this!" Pappianna spoke, her voice nothing but a low and deadly hiss.

It had been then Talon shrugged and sat himself against the majestic willow tree, in deep thought.

_Coming out of the military base __Talons eyes widened when he noticed two familiar figures walking toward both him and Ajax, two very annoying familiar figures…_

_The small red-head spoke first "__HEY! Ajax! Talon! WE HAVE TO TALK TO YOU!" at the sound, Ajax cringed at her high-pitched yells, it belonged to Revili._

_Then a slightly softer yell came "It is concerning Pepper!" came the voice of Tay._

_They waited for a moment until the two females were in front of them panting heavily as they had been running toward them, when they got there, Ajax was the first to speak – well, growl at Revili "what?" he was clearly none too happy about her arrival._

"_You have to stop Pepper" she growled in return, folding her arms defensively "she isn't thinking straight"_

"_You should have heard her!" Tay began slightly panicked "she was cackling like a maniac!"_

_It was then Ajax rolled his eyes, they were Peppers friends and they didn't even know her well enough to expect this sort of thing from her. Well, not to go mad, but to seek vengeance. She just works that way, she had always been overly-dramatic and well…brash "We're trying to, but she isn't budging…"_

"_Hey Tay, could you do us a favour and look after the house until we get back" with that he throw her a house card, which she barely caught of surprise._

"_Our friend is going crazy and you want me to house sit?" she stated flatly._

_Ajax shrugged nonchalantly "yeah" he stated simply._

"_I want you to look for anything that might help Kross get his memory back, okay Tay?" Talon ordered at which Tay nodded and pushed Revili away whilst waving goodbye and good luck._

He hoped, he just hoped they'd figured something out. He couldn't, no he would let this get too far…

* * *

Jason stood in his room, on a navy blue carpet, facing a crimson punching bag, slap-bang in the middle of the room with Will sat on his bed, talking and beating the stiffing out of the punching bag "What do you make of the new girl?" Jason asked making a swing for the punching bag. 

"Eva, her name's Eva." Will stated.

"Taken a shine to her already?" Jason chuckled nonchalantly.

"N-no I-I just know her…name…"

"Why so jumpy?" Jason chuckled triumphantly hitting the punching bag in a very professional manner.

"You know, she came to school with the weirdest guy, he called me 'Bee'!" Will said quickly changing the subject, at the name Jason couldn't help but hug his punching bag in a fit of laughter.

Still clinging to the stuffed bag Jason chuckled "well, to be fair, you do run around like a headless chicken in the mornings, just be thankful he didn't call you that!"

"A chicken?" he asked, giving Jason a flat look.

"Yeah, oh and by the way, don't worry; I think she's cute too"

"I do _not _have a crush on her!" Will yelled defensively

"Did I ever say you did?" he countered triumphantly

* * *

Trudging though the woods Eva came to a clearing, ahead of her was another patch of wood and in there somewhere was either doom or well…not so doom-like consequences. She walked on, alone. She hadn't wanted anyone to come with her; it would just make things look suspicious if anyone did. 

She walked with her eyes glued to the ground below her feet; listening to the slight crunch of the grass as she strode toward the forest.

Meanwhile:

Ajax was off somewhere in the forest, attempting to repair his trident, Talon was still sat blissfully unaware of the world around him under the Willow tree, Pappianna was sat in silence, she had appointed herself look out, she wanted the honour of meeting with Eva first, if of course she actually came tonight.

There was no telling she would come; Eva had never actually specified when she would make her return to the "travellers".

Pepper's ears twitched at the sound of a twig snapping, and Talon and become alert, running off into the forest to get Ajax, pepper had walked soundlessly into the forest and once again hidden herself behind a tree.

There. There she was. Eva. Pappianna smirked to herself…

A wave of black flooded into sight, looking up she saw honey eyes glowing and boring into her own, she let out a yelp of surprise "H-hi" she said hastily.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, Eva Wei, I just had to be sure it was you" Pappianna stated simply, beckoning her to follow as she walked away "the others are at camp…"

With that they walked to the opening, Talon and Ajax were stood in black cloaks and reasonably small, for crogs that is, bags on their shoulders, Ajax smiled and Talon gave a casual two figured salute in greeting "Hey" they said almost in unison.

"…Hey, come on, let's go before…I don't know let's just go" Eva said hastily.

(A/N: I'm sorry, that was a really bad chappie! Don't kill me!)


	15. Tea

Authors note: Um, right, I want three reviews at least. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Oban star-racers, simply because if I did I would have bloody made a girl to moon after Jordan! …poor lonely kitty…

Practically dead;

Chapter fifteen: Tea?

Eva entered her house, later that night, followed by the three Crogs who had been "lost" during their "Travels", to Eva the girl seemed pretty kind, and confidant, in a shy sort of way, she did seem to have a lot of authority over the group, but that made Eve weary of her. Is it possible someone could be shy had have a lot of authority? She's certainly never seen that before. Then again, there is a first time for everything; including bringing _Crogs _into her home.

On the other hand, The Crog called Talon seemed pretty smart, calm and well, quite, he was one of those people that doesn't really feel the need to talk, with the exception of a few occasions, such as being incredibly bored or to insult someone in the casual manner he has adapted. He seemed quite safe to be around, although, as the saying goes: silence is deadly.

It was just Ajax that she had simply found…fun. On the journey back to her home, Ajax had been telling jokes and making rather funny crud comments, as well as letting her sit on his shoulders, although she had been fairly warned not to pull on his ears, he always hated that, and to be fair, _all_ Crogs have nasty tempers. So, Eva complied, no wanting to test the limits, she had figured he was slightly trigger happy, considering the amount of stories he had told which involved him blowing up something. Talon just seemed to laugh along and high five his friend on occasion. Pappianna had stayed silent through most of the journey, flinging half innocent insults here and there, mostly just rolling her eyes.

She knocked a few times on the door, patiently waiting for an answer. Rick should have been up; she _did _ask him to wait up. A few moments paces before the mechanical doors slide open smoothly. Ricks face seemed to fall at the company Eva had been keeping "…and there I was hoping you'd gone to tell them you changed your mind…" Rick spoke; his voice seemed to be filled with annoyance, and just a slight tinge of sadness.

"Well- Rick- I-" Eva began

Placing a hand hastily on her shoulder, Pappianna glared "She did what she thought was right, _human_"

"You seem to have gotten braver, I wonder why…" Rick trailed off with a smug grin on his face, before allowing them to pass. Eva entered swiftly, Rick was still refusing to acknowledge her, his eyes were fixed, glaring dangerously at Pappianna, there was something about her he didn't trust, he wasn't going to let _her_ slip through his fingers. The larger males he let pass without much defiance, Rick may have been strong, but he wasn't stupid…big Crogs equals painful punches, cheating and lying.

Pappianna smirked to herself, wanting to tick the human male off, she decided to make herself at home "Miss Eva, I wonder if you would like some earth tea? Or some other beverage…?" Eva just blinked before nodding dumbly. Rick scowled marching into the kitchen following Pappianna's footpath.

Meanwhile, on some other planet some other time…

Slipping the house-card into the lock, Tay gently pushed the door open with Revili on her trail "just come in here, Talon won't mind" Tay began.

With her eyes wondering the burgundy hallways of Pappianna's home, Revili silently pulled General Kross through "yeah, and Ajax wouldn't dare give _me _any lip…"

Tay chuckled "yes he would, you know it"

"Oh yeah, and Talon wouldn-" Revili began.

"Is there a _reason_ you brought me here?" Kross interrupted.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two, each passing glances at one another, urging the other to start talking first. Tay sighed in annoyance, looking at Revili's short figure, she'd have to start, or they would be here all day "We figured, here would be a good place to start, you know…to help you get your memory back…"

"What do you think you're doing?" Rick practically spat venom with every word he spoke, glaring at the female wondering around the kitchen, diving into cupboards and back out again when she couldn't find what she had been looking for.

There was a moment's silence, only making Rick madder "I'm looking for the tea bags…where do you keep them?" Pappianna inwardly loved peeving off the male human, she should at least take the time to learn his name, make her act more convincing.

It had been then that Rick pushed forward off the doorframe, grabbing Pappianna tightly by the arm "I don't _care_ how much of an act you put on, I _know_ you're up to something, Crog" Rick stated coldly, his eyes boring into her own.

Pappianna was having an internal struggling, deciding whether or not to rip him limb from limb was a pretty hard thing to do, especially for her right now "I was o-only going t-to make E-Eva some…t-tea…" she said weakly, it seems her logic over her barbarity had won "pl-please…don't hurt me again…"

Turning the corner, Eva's eyes widened at the sight before her "Rick! Stop it!" with that Rick glared for a moment longer, with less force then he would have liked pushed her aside, Eva wasted no time in stepping between the two "oh my god, Rick, even if she _is_ a Crog, you don't treat them like that…"

"No, Eva, I can understand why he's so jumpy…just, please…show me where the tea is?" Pappianna fidgeted uncomfortably, or at least pretended to be uncomfortable.

At that Rick rolled his eyes and stalked out of the room angrily. Eva sighed walking over to the cabinet above the sink and handing the box of tea bags to Pappianna with a smile that said 'Don't mind him, just don't kill me'. At that Pappianna had been rolling on the floor with laughter, not literally however, mentally. She figured she wouldn't look sane enough if she did that. She'd rather play the innocent, harmless Crog that didn't seem like much of a Crog. Just plain weird Crog, god she hated stereotyping her own people, but then again, most were like that certain stereotype.

Pappianna smiled sweetly taking the box from her and gently nudging her out of the room, it had been just then the phone rang, Eva was naturally the first to grab it "Hello?" she asked into the phone.

"_Eva is that you?"_

"Jason?"

"_The one and only" _Eva saw he was smirking on the screen of her phone, typical.

Eva rolled her eyes "yeah, whatever Jas', anyway, can you hurry this up, now isn't…the best time…"

"_Well, alright then, Will and I were wondering if you wanted to come round his house tomorrow after school"_

"I dunno' I'd have to call you back on that one…wait, how did you get my number anyway?"

"_Will gave it to me"_

"Oh, right…wait, why didn't Will call me himself?"

"_Busy"_the simple statement came.

Pappianna had a cup of hot liquid in her hands while she listened to the one-sided conversation, from what she had heard, she could tell the one named Will quite liked sweet little Eva. Shame she wouldn't be around much longer from him to claim his prize "Oh" she had heard Eva's let down voice.

"_So…from a scale of one to ten, what's the likely-hood you'll be able to come round Wills?"_

Eva thought for a moment "Probably seven?" she answered uncertainly "I can't guarantee anything with my dad…"

"_Of course, the famous Mr. Wei and his daughter…speaking of which, do you race?"_

"Of course! But not officially, I'm not old enough"

"_What are you talking about; you're old enough for the junior leagues!"_

"I know…I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging but, I think I might be a little too good for them…"

Jason grinned _"Well then, get your dad to clear a race track, and let see your moves!"_

"You don't believe me?"

"_Did I ever say that?"_

"No…"

"_Exactly" _

"Hmph. So, Friday? The race track is always reserved from my training then"

"_Great! Will'll be there too! Anyway, see ya' Tomorrow!"_

"Ugh- Wai-" too late, Jason hung up. Eva huffed tiredly, turning and freezing, noticing that everyone was staring at her, she smiled sheepishly. Pappianna smirked, walking up to her and gently nudging her with the cup of tea "thanks…" she mumbled taking a seat of her drink

"So, do you know where we can sleep?" Pappianna asked nonchalantly.

Eva nearly choked on her tea and choked out "…I hadn't thought of that…"

"Well…We could always camp outside if there's a problem…"

"Sounds like a plan…" Rick mumbled

"_No,_ Rick, they are_ not_ sleeping outside, if they get caught _WE_ could get into serious trouble with the president!" Eva protested.

"…I hate that guy" Rick mumbled in defeat whilst crossing his arms.

Light thudding sounded through the silent room, Eva had known exactly who it was, she would be an idiot if she hadn't recognised that the only person upstairs at the time was her father, who was clearly making his way down the stairs "Well, if outside is a problem, the living room floor will have to do" his strict manager voice sounded.

"Uhh…sure." Eva agreed.

"The floor?" Pappianna stated in disbelief.

"The living room?" Talon chimed in.

"Is this the living room?" Ajax questioned innocently, his eyes wondered, noticing everyone staring at him with blank faces "What!? …it's really small…" he protested in defence weakly.

"Yes. This is the living room" Rick stated with a flat look and voice. Chuckling, Ajax rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

It was silent for a few more moments before Eva decided to break it "Well…I'm going to bed…you know, school and stuff. Good night!" Eva stated hastily before running up the stairs.


	16. Friday

Authors note: Okay, I admit, I haven't updated in a LONG time, but, don't kill me, yeah?

Disclaimer: I don't own…Shinny! Look at the shinny thing! Lookit! NOW!

Practically dead;

Chapter sixteen: Friday

Gulping, Eva sat frozen in a chair, _great…just great, I just __**had**__ to screw up because nothing else can __**ever **__go wrong in my life…ever…again_... pure fear ran through Eva's body as she faced her oh-so scary teacher.

"Miss Wei! Do you have a reason you _"forgot" _to do the homework I set?!"

Eva shook her head only slightly _because she's going to kill me…_she thought, in her mind the only thing she wanted to do was run and hide, her legs just…**wouldn't move! **"M-Miss Knight…I-I…-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Miss Knight yelled from the front on the classroom.

It was at that point in the oh-so dreary English lesson that Jason had to suppress a chuckle _Well you asked…_his brain mumbled to himself. Clearly he did not do as well as he thought as everyone, even Eva turned to look at him. The red-head bit his lip and turned to the front of the classroom, his eyes widened. Miss Knight was staring right at him, seething.

"Jason Tyler! What may I ask is so funny?!"

"You. Miss." He grinned when he heard the rest of the class erupt in murmurs and giggles. At that Miss Knight just fumed further, Will, who sat beside him, gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs – if Jason was going down, he sure as the sky wouldn't take him with him.

"And what, exactly did you find…_amusing…_"

"Just you asking Eva why she didn't do her homework and then _never really_ giving the girl a chance to explain…that's what was funny" Jason spoke whilst leaning on the table lazily.

"Fine then, Miss Wei, Mr Tyler, you'll be seeing me after school on Monday, be there" with that the lesson continued without further hitches. It was mostly Jason and Eva getting victimised into answering a question here and there and then. Once the class was initially over, much to the teacher's dismay, Jason had received a lot of praise for his performance from other students.

Will huffed as he took a seat in the cafeteria "you _are_ an idiot sometimes, you know that?!"

"Hey, I can't help she made herself look stupid" Jason retorted folding his arms with Eva by his side, simply lost in the conversation.

"But seriously?! Have a bit more self-control…" Will mumbled, almost sure he'd lose this argument.

"Heh, I'll try." Jason grinned "but admit it, it was funny, you liked it" at that he was insured his victory when he heard his blond friend sigh in defeat.

"Yes. Fine. Alright, you win, it was a good move…" he began in a frustrated tone "but now, both you _and _Eva are going to have her on your case for the rest of the year"

Eva laughed, joining her friend on the table and bringing her small packed lunch from her bag, all three ate in a comfortable silence, no one really wanted to break it, sometimes silence was nice, especially when you had pointless bickering left, right and centre through out the day, not that she didn't like mindless blabbering; just that sometimes, you could end up repeating the same thing over and _over, _you'd think they'd get bored, right?

The good news was that today was Friday both signalling the end of the week, thus the weekend and also the day that she'd prove to Jason that she _could _fly and was way better then he thought. Oh yeah, and she'd be going to Will's house after training too.

It was Will who had been especially excited to see Eva fly, Jason was still a little sceptical of her abilities, but didn't complain too much, he couldn't do much better now, could he? Well, according to Will, she'd have had to be pretty good to train with Rick Thunderbolt as her couch; sure he had noticed that Rick was never in any races, but he could still do other stuff, right?

Training followed later that day with out much of a hitch, Jason followed gaping after Eva as she walked out of Wei Enterprise and Will laughed, the look Jason seemed to be carrying was there and then classified as 'priceless', it was rare to have Jason any sort of silent.

(A/N: I bet you all thought I was going to right a race scene, nope, I'd have died at its cruddyness).

They wondered slowly up to Will's home, Eva have a puzzled look upon her face at that fact "…why are we slowing down…?"

Will chuckled nervously "m…my mum…is…the touchy-feely kind, prepare to be glomped and embarrassed" Jason smirked when they pulled up to the door, Will rang the door bell.

A few moments' passed and the doors were finally slide open by a tall blond woman, she smiled widely and took her son in her arms, Eva examined her as she squealed happy as if she hadn't seen her son in years and Will complained about not being able to breathe but being largely ignored. This woman seemed to have blue eyes, not green like Will's and it was easy to see where Will had gotten his soft features, just not his pale skin. Then the woman paused and looked over the crowd behind her beloved son.

"Who's this?" she questioned heading over to Eva "she's adorable!" she squealed and wrapped Eva up in a large, sudden hug "She's you're girlfriend isn't she! What's you're name, kid?"

"…Eva"

"Aww and a cute name too!" she smiled widely, pinching her cheek just slightly.

Both Will and Eva were beetroot red at this time "M-Mum! She's not my girlfriend! Cool it a little, please?" Eva nodded slightly in agreement and Will's mother pouted and glomped Jason quickly before ushering them inside.

"Ted, Will's home with Jason and his new girlfriend!" Will shouted in defiance at his mothers words, whilst blushing profoundly.

"_Not_ my girlfriend!"

On that note Will's father walked into the hallway "now, Ivy, what have a told you about embarrassing Will?"

The woman, formally known as Ivy, toed the ground feigning innocents "I thought that's what parent's were supposed to do…" she mumbled cheekily.

Will rolled his eyes, and wondered upstairs with Eva and Jason in tow "you live to torture me, don't you mum?" he half mumbled.

"Yup!" she shouted back gleefully.

(A/N: I'm ending it there for today…sorry for not updating this in like…2-3 months, I'm lazy)


	17. Make way for the big guy

Authors note: Sorry, I know it's been ages since my last update, I've just been in love with my other stories, I completed one an I can't _not_ update the other.

Disclaimer: I really don't _have _to do this you know.

Practically dead;

Chapter seventeen: Make way for the big guy.

Frowning as he observed the room Kross sat on the bed that sat in the centre of the room, watching as Tey and Revili went through Pappianna's things, whoever she was. Tey was riffling through a bookshelf and Revili had taken the liberty of looking through her drawers. Kross rolled his eyes when he heard Revili curse "stupid…" she mumbled agitatedly "gotta'…be so hard to…" she growled in annoyance "Find!" she finished loudly.

On the other side of the room Tey sighed "I am unable to find it here…" she looked around trying to find whatever it was she was looking for, or clues as to where it may be "Where is that box, she can't have taken it with her…" she mumbled as she moved over to search Pappianna's bedside table. Suddenly something clicked and she dived under the bed to search there.

"You are sure this…Pappianna won't mind you two raiding her room?" Kross asked, in slight concern. He watched as Revili made her way to the other end of the room where the wardrobe was, she snorted indignantly.

"She won't if no one tells her…" she smiled cheekily and stopped short when a loose floor bored creaked under her weight "Hey" she mumbled "I thought this house was made of cement" she mumbled, beside her, under the bed came a loud 'OW!' and a then the mumbles of incoherent cursing, Tey had been shocked by the comment and had come out from under the bed with her hand on her head, wincing slightly.

"It is" she stated, still rubbing her poor injured head "Why?"

Sighing Revili stepped on the creaking floor repeatedly and pointed at it "that's why" she said matter-of-factly, there was definitely a loose floor board "help me move the carpet" she asked and Tey obeyed, rolling up the black carpet, both her shocked to find a few panels of wooden floor boards, Revili grinned like a Cheshire cat "I think…" she began "we found it" she laughed mischievously.

Huffing beside her Tey pulled the wooden board put and get out a triumphant "Ah-ha!" She stood and moved over to stand next to cross who was still sat on the bed "here, these could help with the memory problem, because everything thing in here is connected to both you and her" she sighed sadly for a moment "I have to admit, it's sad you don't remember her…she was heartbroken"

Revili joined them and dug through the box, she smiled when she came across the collection of letters "start with these" Kross took them rather reluctantly "You always wrote to Pepper then you were away…" A couple of minutes later and he started on the pictures and sketches

"I remember…"

* * *

Walking through the forest Talon had offered to slow Eva how the Engine to a Crogasian ship worked, she had jumped at the chance although Pepper hadn't too enthusiastic about the idea, neither was Rick, so he took it upon himself to go with Eva and make sure she was going to be okay. Eva pouted at being treated like a small child, she was more or less ignored and forced to have a chaperone.

Talon showed where they had hid the ships; simply because he was going to start the repairs, and well, get off the planet before they get noticed. Of course he wasn't sure how long it was going to take and he was all too happy that Rick and Eva decided to help. Eva wanted to help, because she wanted to and Rick only helped because he wanted them gone, but for whatever reason, Talon didn't particularly care. It was just nice to talk to someone while he worked; he found it easier to concentrate, strangely enough. That way he could block out the other person's blabbering and can concentrate on working, it was a strange method, but it worked; whereas, if he were alone, his mind would wonder and think about things that didn't need to be thought about. It was a waste of time and Talon hated wasting time, but only when there was something worth doing.

Every so often Eva would pass Talon tool and then explain what it was for and where it was used on the engine and then he would explain what that part of the engine was for. Before forgetting to mention that he really shouldn't be telling her any of this but then continuing to tell her anyway. He honestly didn't care whether or not earth got this sort of information, it's not like they could get past a crog vessels armour to actually damage the engine anyway. Talon was always careful to stay off the subject of the armour.

There was plenty of laughing and joking between Eva and the crog male, although, sometimes Rick had to stop and force himself not to laugh. He didn't like the crogs, he wouldn't condone them being here, so no, he wouldn't like to join in thank you very much.

* * *

"You remember?!" Tey cried happily.

"Y-Yes…tell me…where is my pepper?" Kross asked still looking over a letter of hers she had saved.

At that point Revili chuckled nervously taking a few steps back "well" she began "here's the thing…she sorta'-" she made to run only to be grabbed by the collar of her shirt by Tey who had a devilish smile of her features that just said 'you leave, I _will_ kill you…'.

"What Revili means to say is that…" Tey trailed off "she went to erm…get revenge o-on the earthling that beat you in the race" she stuttered out, waiting for Kross to erupt, he did.

"**What?!**" he shouted "**she could be in severe danger! We must retrieve her! Immediately!**" he shouted loudly.

"Yes sir, General Kross!" Revili stood to attention in a salute.

"Sir! Yes sir!" Tey stated in a salute of her own.

**(A/N: how lame was this chapter? Seriously, **tell** me)**


End file.
